Sam's Telecomms History Links Page

Notice

I am tired of receiving e-mail requests for reciprocal links from commercial companies. I don't do reciprocal links. Let me make it clear....

These links are my personal choice and those which I think will be of interest to collectors, restorers, and researchers in telecomms history. I have no connection with any commercial sites and those appearing here satisfy my criterion above. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of any of their products.

I'm finding it hard to spare time to keep this page updated. Please forgive me for not refreshing the contents. SMH Jan 2013

Telephony

Great pictures of Siemens & Halske phones through the ages and biographies of the best-known inventors in telephone history. Mostly in German. There are still pictures from the museum, based in a restored railway station at Hittfeld in Germany, but only the links in German seem to work.

A PBS programme on "The Telephone". A series of articles based on
the TV series covering the invention of the telephone, including
items about Gray, Bell and Edison and Real Audio interviews with
telephone operators.

Albert LaFrance presents the history of Microwaves and co-axial
carrier systems from early days in the 1940s to their eventual
demise. See also his site on Cold War communications. http://coldwar-c4i.net

The late Bob Estreich was a former employee of Telecom Australia. On his site he wrote many articles about telephones, telephone companies, and inventors with illustrations. Since Bob's death in 2011 his information has been passed to the Australasian Telephone Collectors Society and has now been made available on their web pages.

Joe Stevens, now resident in Kodiak, Alaska, recounts his
experiences as a tech with the Norfolk & Carolina Telephone &
Telegraph Company in the 1960s. His tale of the blizzard in the 70s
is particulalry worth reading.

The Dean Forest Railway has a network of Strowger exchanges linking its sites in Gloucestershire. The Telecoms Department have written a series of excellent articles about their equipment and about Strowger principles in general.

Subterranea Britannica's Research Study Group tell the story of
this underground exchange, built in London during the Cold War.
Photos and plans of the site. Links to other RSG articles on Cold War
relics.

Named after the colour chosen for exchange equipment racks by the
British Post Office, this site gives a clear and comprehensive
history of the development of the British telephone network. It
explains how the present numbering plan developed, and the Zone and
Group structure, with articles about operators and manual boards,
trunk switching, the digital network and much more.

Frédéric Nibart's history of the Société Générale des Téléphones
and the early introduction of the telephone to France in the
1880/90s. A well researched account of the SGT's beginnings as a
telephone operator and its later transition to an instrument
manufacturer following the introduction of the State monopoly. Plenty
of pictures including vintage instruments. In French and now with an
English version.

Another THG member, Martin Loach has produced these pages of
photographs of various types of Strowger exchange, both private and
public. Some are publicity material and others are in-the-flesh
photos of real exchanges.

Fellow THG member, Michael Spalter, has produced this homage to the
great electromechanical system. Clear technical descriptions with
diagrams of the British telephone system. Best of all are the
recordings of the sound of Strowger switches in action.

A number of TCI & ATCI members have contributed to this site with: Pictures of telephone signs; The Kellogg pages with catalogues, articles, and reference materials; and beautiful pics of McMurdo phones.

Bob
Freshwater's Magnum Opus of British subscribers' apparatus. There are
pictures, sounds, circuit diagrams, instruction manuals, reference
material. A work in progress - plenty done, but Bob invites help with
extending the information.

"Diamond" Dave Perrussel has devoted this site to the telephone,
telephone networks and related systems. Particularly recommended is
the section on payphones with pictures of most of the types used in
the US. Also recordings of tones and announcements

Andy Greening, THG's UAX king, has put together a site explaing all about the British Post Office's Unit Automatic Exchanges, Strowger switches for use in rural and lightly populated areas. Lots of text and diagrams. A growing resource as Andy adds more information.

Tom
Fletcher has amassed this treasure trove of payphones pictured on
location in countries from Australia to Vanuatu. Detailed photos and
histories of many models from a wide variety of manufacturers.

Telephone Collections

Robert Wessels' collection in the Netherlands. Presently private, though he hopes to be able to open it to the public in the future. Many images of European telephone systems - both exchanges and instruments. In Dutch and English.

Neil Carpenter is mad about bakelite phones. And not just bakelite, but all
old British phones. Neil has made a business of restoring old telephones for sale and very smart they look too, but certainly not cheap!

The A.T.C.S. is a world wide organisation of private telephone
collectors. The sample newsletter on their site contains several
interesting articles on telecomms history. Their page of links is
also very extensive.

Remco Enthoven has some nice photos of his collection, ranging from
a 1928 Siemens desk phone to 1980s Ericsson model. There is also an
unusual answering machine which uses a magnetic disc. In Dutch &
English

Wilhelm Klaas has devoted pages on his company site to his
collection of old telephones. Beautiful pictures of an assortment of
German and Austrian equipment. Worth visiting even if you can't read
German.

John K. La Rue’s Museum of Telephony, near Stockton, California, contains 'telephones and related items from the dawn of telephony to the present day'. As no opening times or admission charges are quoted I presume this is a private collection, but available for viewing by appointment.

V. Lomba has assembled some delightful illustrations of French
telephone instruments dating from 1900 to the 1960s, including the
Hygienic Handset and the Frog Phone. Download his unique French Phone
History screen saver. In English and French

Ove Svensson, a Swedish telephone collector, presents his
collection of telephones and switchboards, many very early models
from L.M. Ericsson. Also pictures from the Swedish association of
telephone collectors.[in English]

TCI are helping to preserve the history of the telecommunications
industry by collecting of telephones and related material. Some
illustrations of both phones and exchange equipment, extracts from
the newsletter Singing Wires and a wide-ranging list of
links.

Telegraphy

A wealth of resources on this site, including such oddities as Atlantic Cable sheet music. There are reprints of historic articles
and biographical information on Cyrus W. Field, who financed the first Atlantic cable and an impressive list of links on the subject.

Gil Smith is the moderator of the Greenkeys mailing list on QTH.NET, and this site is dedicated to all mechanical teleprinters. There is extensive information on virtually every model produced by the Teletype Corporation and some excellent stuff from the late Alan Hobbs, G8GOJ on Creed machines.

Bob Pollard's rather modestly titled pages are a very detailed history of data communications development and technical advances over the last 150 years. A series of one-page articles on a variety of topics from early telegraphy through microwaves and packet switching to the Internet.

The late Steven Roberts prepared a history of the telegraph companies in Britain from 1838 to 1868. Illustrated with hundreds of original engravings, maps and city plans. A mine of information for this seminal period in telegraphy. The website is preserved to honour his memory.

Dr James B. Calvert, Associate Professor Emeritus of Engineering, University of Denver, has written a series of papers covering topics such as the early history of telegraphy, teletypwriters, alphabets & codes, and even pneumatic telegraphs.

An excellent article about the development of telegraph codes, from Baudot to ASCII, by Eric Fischer. A really scholarly work (there are 5 pages of references). Eric has also translated a number of articles about Emile Baudot.

Fons Vanden Berghen has amassed an amazing collection 19th century telegraph instruments and early electrical apparatus. In April 2008 he exhibited some of the collection in the Old Post Office in his home town of Halle in Belgium. The second link chronicles the setup, opening and display with other pictures of the visitors, especially the fascinated children from local schools.

The North American end of the first Transatlantic telegraph cable terminated here in Canada. First link is the IEEE Canada's Milestones of Engineering page including a tour of the site museum. Second link is from Jerry Proc, VE3FAB, with a page of history and photos.

Established with the help of Cable & Wireless, at the landing
site of the first transAtlantic cable in 1870, this museum displays
the history of transcontinental cable telegraphy with may working
intsruments on show. An inventive Website that makes good use of
Shockwave animations. A visit to the Instrument Room is a must.

The late Jeff Seidel had a daunting collection of railway related items. Skip the
railway signals and look at his collection of Teletype machines. Then
see the Automatic Electric telephone exchange. Site is being maintained in memory of Jeff.

George Hutchison, W7KSJ, has dedicated his site to all aspect of
amateur radio teletype (RTTY) operation. Includes history of the
Teletype Corp and teletype pictures. Also diagrams and handbooks for
getting those old machines on the air.

Museums

An
ambitious project to present telecomms history and BT's collection of
artefacts through a variety of actual museums and a Web site. A
stunning amount of information. Well worth a few hours browsing!.

Max Flemmich has created an absolute gem of a telephone museum in the former bakery beside his home in Darvel, Ayrshire. It is a labour of love after spending his working life with Post Office Telephones. The museum is open by appointment and it is very popular with local schools. Bill Edwards' amazing panorama technique allows you to scan the entire museum with your mouse and zoom in with the scroll wheel.

The Post & Telegraph Museum at Ferrymead Historic Park
Christchurch New Zealand, housed in a vintage building, recreates a
small town Post Office from the 1920's. Exhibits include an Ericsson
drop shutter manual switchboard in working condition and a Western
Electric 7A rotary exchange.

Western Electric purchased 113 acres of prairie land west of Chicago in an area known as 'Hawthorne' to build the manufacturing arm of the Bell Telephone System. There is a nice gallery of photos showing the works during its heyday.

Sponsored
by the Washington Telephone Pioneers of America, and is located in
Seattle. What a collection! Exchanges, telephones, teleprinters. Even a
British K6 kiosk. And some things you didn't know Western Electric made
- washing machines?.

Don Robert House amassed a collection of US teleprinters and
telegraph equipment formerly on display but which was deeded to San Diego State University (SDSU) for permanent display. Unfortunately lack of funding means the display was closed in 2005, but there is still plenty of stuff on the website. Mostly Teletype equipment with photos.

Billed as the largest collection of Telecommunication Memorabilia in Queensland. From Aboriginal message sticks to telephone exchanges, there are lots of high resolution pictures of the collection. Of particular note are the Siemens 16 exchange and the Murray multiplex teleprinter.

A small museum local to me which tells the story of the Royal Air Force signals. Pictures of some of the early equipment from as far back as WW I and of apprentice training which took place at Henlow. They have a recreation of one of the many 'Y' Stations used to receive coded enemy messages in WW II, which were then sent on to Bletchley Park for decoding.

Long associated with the THG, the Telephone Museum is part of the
Milton Keynes Museum at Wolverton. Includes a virtual
tour of the masses of stuff they have on display - phones, exchange
equipment, mobile exchanges and more.

Personalities

Alexander Bain, a Scottish clock and instrument maker, invented the first electrical clock, patented the basics of facsimile, developed chemical telegraph receivers and punch-tapes to speed up telegraph transmission. From the History of Computing Project.

Garden of Praise has a variety of educational materials aimed at elementary school level. There are worksheets and printable activities as well as online activities such as a word search, crossword and jigsaw puzzle.

A Nova Scotian's Contribution to Data Communications Technology. A short biography of the founder of the Creed teleprinter company and history of the business. From the Library &Amp; Archives of Canada virtual collection.

About.com's page on Elisha Gray contains a brief biography and tells the story of the patent wars with Bell. There is a good selection of links for further reading in the subject and a link to the full text of Gray's patent caveat.

A single page biography of Meucci who invented a telephone but failed to get it patented, raising doubts about the tactics of the Bell company's lawyers. On the same site you'll also find Luigi Galvani, Guglielmo Marconi and Alessandro Volta

The online presentation of The Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress comprises about 6,500 items, or approximately 50,000 images, that document Morse's wide-ranging career from portrait painter to inventor of the telegraph.

The Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University has received much of the collection of artefacts from the Marconi Company. These pages give a concise history of Marconi's role in the development of wireless.

Other Sites

This site descrbies itself as "A website created as a memorial to the people, history, technology and the 'Spirit of
Service' of what was known as the 'Bell System' prior to 1984.". It Also includes a section devoted to Western Electric, the manufacturing arm of the Bell System.

A special interest group of the Society for the History of
Technology (SHOT), focussed on the history of telecommunications.
It's either fairly heavy in academic in tone or a jolly good spoof.
Back issues of their magazine, the Antenna. contain an article about
Dracula if you want a good laugh.

Formerly 'The Web
Page You Have Reached' Almost too wierd for words! Recordings of telephone tones and
announcements from around the N. American network and elsewhere. As another bit of fun, author Jenn, has created "Touch Touch Tunes", which offers instruction on how to play music with your touch tone phone - a much needed service for the true telephone junkie. TouchToneTunes.com'

Part of a larger project on Engaging with Communications and in association with the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry. A series of well-written articles on aspects of telecomms history and photographs of their collection with historic detail.

Students at the Fachhochschule für Technik at Esslingen prepared what it claims is one of the most comprehensive summaries of the history of telecommunications available on the Web. Well researched and neatly illustrated. The assortment of authors leads to a rather variable style, but highly recommended none the less. Unfortunately now no longer available at the original URL, but still accessible via this link at archive.org.